November 2013!

Okay okay...I know it's almost the end of December and I'm just now updating my blog! I've been a horrible blogger but I've been a little bit busy between my externship at the cancer center at the ruby memorial hospital and moving into a new house in Fairmont West Virginia!

Anyway, the month of November has been a wonderful month! I was able to start my externship at the Ruby Memorial Hospital at the Mary Bab Randolph Cancer Center! It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot from the patients coming in every single day. It was often a humbling experience being a part of a life changing experience with many different people. From the last day of treatment to finding out they have cancer. I am truly blessed for the health that I enjoy on a daily basis.  I will always be grateful for the experience I had. I have a job interview there.....so wish me luck!

The month of November also brought the opportunity to see Josh Groban in concert! I know all of you are jealous....he was absolutely amazing. Even more amazing was the fact that our ticket were free! My dad was able to get them from a coworker because the coworker would not be able to go....Thank you so much! I had two tickets and was so excited to share it with a friend/little sister Emmalee Hart! We were both so excited!

Here we are heading out to Pittsburgh!

Josh Groban was so amazing! He seriously sounded exactly the same in concert as he does on his albums! I was starstruck and decided that he could marry me right now! He was extremely funny as well....we were laughing hard a lot. The band was awesome as well! Many talented musicians....just sharing their talent and loving what they do! It was such a fun night and I am glad I got to share it with a great girl!

This month also brought Thanksgiving! We were able to spend the holiday with the Harts! My family and I have known them for over ten years and they are amazing. We had lots of wonderful food and were able to share some of the things we are grateful for. I am grateful for all the wonderful things I have and the opportunities I have had over the past year from being able to attend school and meet new friends, to moving to west virginia and meeting new friends here, and being healthy and graduating and working at my externship, to learning new things. Overall I am grateful for my family and the joy they bring into my life! I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the blessings that come along with the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father, who blesses me and looks over me.

This month also brought me a double middle ear infection....I know it sounds horrible right?! It was no fun for about three weeks. It started out as having liquid that was not draining in the middle of my ears but then it was starting to become an infection. I was able to be on antibiotics and some steroids and that seriously helped....it was pretty painful for a little while.  I felt a little bit off and dizzy quite a few times but its now so much better.

We also were able to move to a bigger house in Fairmont. Its about 15 minutes or so away from Morgantown.  I really have liked it here so far. Its much more quiet and we have a lot more space.  I have enjoyed unpacking and moving things(not really....they were pretty long days). I am finally unpacked and organized but my room needs a serious makeover!

Anyway, that pretty much sums up my month of November.  It has been filled with fun and working and life.

Jeffry is home!

These past few months have been extremely busy! Over the past two months I have finished school and moved out to wild and wonderful West Virginia! I also celebrated my 24th birthday on September 27th! It was an awesome day! I had some West Virginia cupcakes to celebrate my move!

They were yummy!! We also had Mountain States brewing company for dinner! Best pizza ever! 

My brother Jeffry also returned from Afghanistan on October 15! We were able to head to New York and watch the whole ceremony! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I'm so grateful that he is home safe and sound! Here are some awesome pictures to sum up the event! 

Grammy, Kaden, and me!! Waiting so patiently!! 

Here he comes!! 

He's here! 

My favorite of these two! 

Bruce boys!! 

Jeffry is one of my heroes! I'm so glad he is my oldest brother:) I am excited to have him so close and can't wait till he can come and visit us here in West Virginia!

Pelotonia 2013!!

Once again I was blessed to be able to attend a bike ride called Pelotonia! The whole goal of this bike ride is to end cancer! All the money raised is for this goal. As well as, helping with research and scholarships to train more doctors to research for a cure. It's definitely a once in a life time experience to see a huge group of us to come together for one goal. It's also life changing to see how cancer affects so many people all over the country and even the world!

From the countless names written on arms and legs and jerseys, to the spectators holding signs, I realized that this is our fight and what am I doing about it?! Cancer affects people in my family and a few of my friends. What am I doing to help the fight? Better yet what are you doing to help the fight against cancer? Think for a minute and I promise you it will change your life! Thankfully we can all join the fight together! It's going to take all of us! 

Well what better way to show my whole experience than through pictures and videos! 

 

Here is the promotional video from Pelotonia! What a way to get us more excited about the fight!

This year I decided to join in on the fun and make a shirt of my own! Allie was nice enough to help me design it!

Thanks again Allie!

Here is a Video of the Bruce Family Pelotonia!

If you would like to know more information about Pelotonia and how you can join the fight to end cancer, visit www.pelotonia.org! You can donate to the cause or just find out more information about how much money is being raised and how Pelotonia is uniting us all with one goal to end cancer! One goal cannot be achieved without..............US!!









 

West Virginia!

IThis past weekend, we had the chance to visit my parents in West Virginia! It truly was wild and wonderful! That is the state motto! We flew in on Wednesday the 3rd to the Pittsburgh airport! We arrived around midnight! It was a late night! Of course we took some awesome pictures on the way out of the airport! We met my dad and took the hour drive to our house in Morgantown!

The scenery was so amazing as we drove around the next day! So green and everything is on a hill! There are a lot of trees and rivers everywhere! It was also really humid( I'm not used to that anymore)! The next morning we hit up dunkin donuts and the good will! I found the most awesome USA jacket...totally bought it! After the good will we visited some other thrift stores and enjoyed them! Got some good stuff! Then we headed home and got ready for the Fourth of July festivities! We headed to a pizza place! It was awesome! It's a brick oven type place and it was amazing! After the pizza we walked along the river to this big band show and fireworks! It was so much fun! It was a great Independence Day! I'm grateful for this country and for my freedom! Thank you to the military! Especially my older brother Jeffry! I love you! Stay safe! 

Here he is! He's the best! 

The next day we just explored around Morgantown! Walked around Main Street and visited all the little shops! It was so much fun! Of course we ate a ton! My favorite thing has to be the gobs. They take two cupcake tops and put them together with frosting in the middle! The peanut butter one is the best! That pretty much was the whole day just enjoying the sights in Morgantown! 

Our last full day we headed to Pittsburgh! It was so beautiful! It definitely was the city of bridges! They were everywhere! We went to Primanti Brothers and got the poor mans sandwich. In the old days the coal miners would put everything on the sandwich to save time. So they literally put the meat, cheese, French fries, cole slaw all in one sandwich! It was very good! After that we walked around the strip district! It was awesome! A bunch of street vendors and different authentic food shops that have been around for ages! We went to an Italian one that had like all these cheeses from around the world! Then after that we drove around and overlooked the city and got some frozen yogurt and we kept seeing these people in animal costumes walking around...weird right? Well there was a furry conference going on...look it up. So all these people who dress up like animals get together. I guess it's like some culture type thing. So they were all over! We died laughing at all the different things we saw! 

After our day in Pittsburgh we went to church and then it was time for us to head to the airport. So we left late because we read the wrong time for our first flight but we made it with five minutes to spare! We arrived early to our lay over in the JFK airport in New York! I was this close and I didn't get to see it!! Someday! We then got delayed for about three hours...two of those was spent sitting on the plane! Then it was a four hour flight home! We were on the plane for 6 hours:(. But we finally made it back to salt lake but only to go find our bag didn't even leave New York! Always an adventure with us! But we made it and we had a wonderful trip! Thanks mom and dad! 

Here is the whole adventure! Enjoy! 

 

Warped Tour 2013!

Sorry that I haven't updated this in a while! I've been way too busy having the time of my life! As most of you know my former companion and really great friend moved in with me on June 25th! Allie and I have been having great adventures so far! 

One of the first adventures we embarked on was the Vans Warped Tour! I talked her into going;). The tradition is that me and my little brother Mitchell and his best friend Taylor go but they are both on missions! I had to uphold the tradition! So we left our house around 9:30 and arrived at the Utah State fairground around 10:45 or so! Then we were in for loud music and extremely hot weather! 

The way warped tour works for those of you who don't know is, they set up like 8 or 9 stages and bands just constantly play. So you have to have an idea of who is playing and who you want to see! It's loud and everyone is just crazy! But it's so much fun! 

This year we didn't know a lot of the bands so we just did a lot of discovering and we found some awesome ones! Check out Alvarez Kings from England( I was totally in love because of the accents!) and For the Foxes from New Jersey! They were super good! 

Here is me and Allie with Alvarez Kings 

They are so awesome! 

For the Foxes! 

They loved my lobster shorts! 

Here we are with our colored hair! 

Allies was blue! I rocked the pink! 

So much fun! We followed up with a visit to crown burger! It's tradition! After a fun day we headed home for some peace and quiet! I can't wait for next year! 

Summer time is here once again!

Well June is well underway and we all know what that means summertime is here once again! This summer I am currently in school but I am still going to enjoy it! This month so far has been filled with studying Anatomy and Physiology(which I finished in record time with an awesome grade....go me!) and riding around in the convertible named Lemon.  

So this month my parents moved to West Virginia.  My dad was able to receive an awesome job offer there and so they will be living there for the next two to three years.  We all will be traveling back and forth so I am very excited to go back east and see all of the history there! So they left me here at the house to take care of all the animals(chickens and the dog) and my grandma who live in our basement.  So for the past two weeks I have been all alone....it can be quite lonely but school has kept me busy. My friend Alllie will be moving here at the end of this month and I seriously cannot wait for the all the adventures we will be having! It will be an awesome summer! My mom will be coming back for a little while when Allie arrives to make sure she knows the ropes around the house:).  And then we will all be heading back with them for the Fourth of July! I am beyond excited! 

Well my month has been wonderful and full of house cleaning and homework and riding around in Lemon like I said before! 

Here she is:

My friend Whitney and I enjoying the warm weather! We just happened to have matching sunglasses! 

Well thats about all the adventures I have had so far for the month of june.  Besides lots of ice cream and things to stay cool! The weather is up into the 90's already....gross but good.  I would be happy if it cooled down just a few degrees! 

Oh the many adventures of a Saturday with my parents!

My parents are some of the funniest people you will ever meet. Something many of you will come to understand by just spending a few minutes with them!

This adventure took place in the wonderful store called Lee's. They were having a customer appreciation day, with many different festivities. They were having trivia questions about every 10 minutes and you had text in the answer. My mom with her fast texting skills texted in the answer to the question "what is the market called in seattle where they toss the fish?" The answer was Seattle Pike Place! So of course as we were leaving they called us and because we answered fast enough we got put in a contest to catch Sammy the salmon....of course we forced my dad to catch the fish! 

Sammy the Salmon and my dad! 

My dad, Sammy the salmon, Monica 

They tied so they split Sammy in half for us all to enjoy! Looks like we will be having salmon for dinner! 

Here is the whole adventure! Enjoy! I know we did!